Doctor's Orders (episode)
Series: ENT Episode: 3x16 Original Airdate: 2004-02-18 Production Number: 068 Year: 2154 Date: (Unknown) Written by: Chris Black Directed by: Roxann Dawson In order to traverse a large region of subspace anomalies safely, Phlox must put the rest of the crew in stasis and pilot the Enterprise himself. Summary Teaser The Enterprise is moving very slowly through an area of pinkish-purple cloud. The warp nacelles are in-active. Onboard, there is no-one on the bridge, in engineering, in the mess hall, or even in the corridors, apart from Porthos, who is being chased by Dr Phlox. :Phlox - "Stop!... oh, urrm... Return!... no, urmm... heel, yes thats right, heel, Porthos, heel!" Porthos does stop, but only because he's got to where he wants to be: he paws at one of the crew-quarter doors. Phlox suddenly understands, and lets him in. In the cabin, Porthos jumps up onto the bed to look at Captain Archer, laying there, unconcious, with a silver disc attached to his head. Act 1 Phlox and Porthos are in Phlox's cabin, discussing why Porthos keeps trying to go back to see the Captain. Phlox discovers on his PADD that dogs are very territorial, and that a dog called 'Scruffers' once travelled 3,000km to get back to see his master. Phlox tells Porthos that he heard of a Pican space moth that travelled 1/2 a light-year, but that it probably didn't have a name. Phlox and Porthos go for a walk, while he dictates a letter to Dr Lucas. They arrive at the galley, where Phlox gets some leeches to eat, and gives one to Porthos, claiming that he probably won't like it, but his intestinal tract will be thoroughly cleansed. Phlox then continues his letter, concerning his assignment to Enterprise. Two days earlier, the Enterprise encountered a transdimensional disturbance, similar to the one they encountered a few weeks ago (ENT: "Harbinger"). However, this one is different, because it has only just started forming. It is also on a direct path between the ship and Azati Prime. To avoid several weeks of a detour, T'Pol suggests going through the disturbance. Dr Phlox says that he will need to put all the crew members into a coma, to which Commander Tucker objects strongly. Despite Trip's objections, the Captain agrees to Phlox's plan, and Phlox gets basic training in the running of the ship, including helm and engineering operations. Also, Trip suggests that they should cross the disturbance at impulse, rather than risk the unpredictable effects of warp drive in the disturbance. Act 2 Visiting Travis Mayweather, who is also in a coma, Phlox continues his letter, saying that he managed to convince the Captain, and that his physiology was sufficiently different than the humans that he wouldn't be affected by the disturbance. Still, he had his doubts about his ability to control the ship by himself. In engineering, he hears something odd, but finds nothing. He continues his letter, saying he'll be relieved when he can wake the crew, in another 2 days 16 hours and 43 minutes. Act 3 Phlox is jogging through the corridors of Enterprise singing in Denobulan: :Phlox - ::"Harve preta haran Rica, ::Uche van Garooda! ::Marique Zutfall, Zutfall, Zutfall! ::Re-eek Zu-utfall..." He walks into sickbay, appearing naked, and apologises to his animals because he's late for their feedings. He then watches "The Court Jester", a 1956 movie, with some popcorn: :Movie script - :Man - "I don't want the vessel with the pestle, I want the chalice from the... what?"' :First woman - "The chalice from the palace." :Man - "Humm?" :Second woman - "Its a little crystal chalice with a figure of a palace." :Man - "Does this chalice of the palace have the pellet with the poison?" :First woman - "No, the pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle." :Man - "Oh, in the pestle with the vessel?" :Second woman - "The vessel with the pestle." :Man - "What about the palace from the chalice?" :First woman - "Not the palace from the chalice, the chalice from the palace!" :Man - "Where's the pellet with the poison?" :Second woman - "In the vessel with the pestle!" :First woman - "The pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace holds the brew that is true. Its so easy I can say it!" :Man - "Well, then you say it!" Suddenly, Phlox hears something odd, looks at Porthos as if to check to see if he heard it, then goes to see if he can find out what it was he heard. Act 4 Walking through the deserted corridors, Phlox tells Porthos that he shouldn't have let Trip force him to watch "The Exorcist" last week. Then, he hears a sound again, and tracks it to one of the shuttlebays. Phlox looks up and sees a small gas leak, which is rattling a chain. :Phlox - "Is this a starship, or a haunted house?" Suddenly, T'Pol appears behind Phlox, and startles him. He then invites her to dinner later on. Back in engineering, Phlox is running one of the routine operations that Trip showed him, when he hears and this time sees a shadowy figure running away, on one of the upper platforms. Angry, Phlox calls T'Pol on the intercom, presuming it must have been her, and compares her to a draxon cloud viper. However, she claims to have been on the bridge all the time. They meet in the galley, where Phlox prepares a meal that his fifth grandmother made for each of his weddings. Apparently, the chef on Enterprise could never get it right, and was lacking in his Plomeek broth skills as well. Phlox talks to T'Pol about how crowded his homeworld is, not by necessity but by choice, because Denobulans enjoy living in groups. For him, being alone on the Enterprise has been unsettling, but for T'Pol, she has found it to be a welcome respite. Act 5 Back in sickbay again, Phlox continues his letter to Dr Lucas, talking about how much he misses Denobula. He visits Captain Archer, for a check-up, and is startled by a shadowy form that he sees outside the Enterprise window. Frightened, he calls T'Pol. On the bridge, they discuss the Enterprise sensors, and find no other lifeforms. Not convinced, Phlox continues with his rounds, only to find a Xindi-Insectoid in Ensign Sato's quarters. He is chased by the Xindi through the corridors, until he gets to an air-lock, in which he locks himself until the Xindi gives up and moves away. Phlox arms himself with a phaser and, starting on G-deck, searches the ship for alien lifeforms. T'Pol comes with him. Phlox uses a tricorder to look for other lifeforms, but almost shoots Porthos by mistake. After wasting 2 hours of T'Pol's time, she starts to get angry with him. They both go to sickbay, where Phlox does a scan of himself, which shows that he's been subtly affected by the disturbance as well. Phlox considers handing over control of the ship to T'Pol, but she refuses after she admits she's been having trouble controlling her emotions in the disturbance, and she could become irrational. On the bridge, they discover that they're still over 1/4 of a light-year from the edge of the disturbance, althought they should have been out of it by now. The disturbance has expanded, and it would take them another 10 weeks to get out of it at impulse. T'Pol insists that they engage the warp drive. In engineering, T'Pol isn't much help, because she can't concentrate on anything. Although Phlox has a dozen scientific degrees, none of them are in warp field propulsion. Since T'Pol can't help, Phlox has to "read the manual" about how to engage the warp drive. After a few minor problems, he manages to take the ship to warp 2. Once they are out of the anomaly, Phlox starts waking the crew, the senior officers first. He walks T'Pol back to her quarters, where he finds that she's been in her quarters the whole time, and that he's actually been speaking to himself. The rest of the crew are awakened, and the Enterprise continues on towards Azati Prime. Background Information This episode is remarkably similar to the Voyager episode "One", in which the entire crew is put in statis except for Seven of Nine and the Doctor who are left to run the ship. This is the first time anyone in Star Trek has spoken Denobulan. It is also one of the very few episodes of ENT to have no guest stars. Links and References Guest Stars : (No guest stars) References COMMA-SEPARATED LIST OF ITEMS REFERENCED IN EPISODE (BUT NOT YET MENTIONED IN SUMMARY OR CHARACTERS) Previous episode: Harbinger Episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise Next episode: Hatchery Category:ENT episodes de:Auf ärztliche Anweisung